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However, there are still around 40 a year and recently four teenagers aged between 12 and 16 were identified for smashing bus windows by throwing things at them.

Their families have been told to pay £1,000 for the cost of the damage.

Alongside deploying the Trojan Bus, NCT visits schools on a regular basis through the TravelSafe initiative, educating pupils about safe travel and the consequences of vandalism.

Anthony Carver-Smith, NCT's marketing manager, said: "It is important to stress that the likelihood of being on a bus where a window is smashed is exceptionally rare and our partnership work with Nottinghamshire Police has seen an 80 percent reduction in the number of vandalised buses since Trojan Bus was introduced.

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"We will continue to work together to further reduce these incidents and the recent identification of four youngsters for vandalism demonstrates this is being taken very seriously."

Inspector Gordon Fenwick, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “We take reports of damage and antisocial behaviour on the public transport system seriously and work closely with our partners at NCT to identify and deal with offenders.

"Throwing objects at bus windows is extremely dangerous and could cause serious injury. We will be conducting more plain clothes operations in the future to keep our buses safe.”